On July 2, Hanwha Ocean announced that it was selected as the preferred negotiation partner for the KDDX detailed design and lead ship construction project following an evaluation by the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA). Specific terms, including contract amount and duration, will be finalized through future negotiations.
The KDDX project involves a budget of 7.8 trillion won to construct six 6,000-ton 'mini Aegis' destroyers using entirely domestic technology. Shipbuilding projects typically progress through concept design, basic design, detailed design, lead ship construction, and subsequent ship construction phases. Hanwha Ocean handled the KDDX concept design, while HD Hyundai Heavy Industries was responsible for the basic design.
Previously, on June 11, DAPA notified Hanwha Ocean and HD Hyundai Heavy Industries of the evaluation results for the KDDX proposals. In the evaluation, HD Hyundai Heavy Industries scored 0.6425 points higher than Hanwha Ocean based on technical capability criteria. However, a security penalty of 1.2 points was applied to HD Hyundai Heavy Industries due to a past military confidentiality breach. Although HD Hyundai Heavy Industries contested the evaluation results, DAPA rejected their appeal the following day.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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